Affected grapes
Choppers laden with water bombs circled the area on Tuesday, dropping their payload before rushing back to a make-shift control centre at the prison where democracy hero Nelson Mandela walked free from 27 years of apartheid jail.

On the ground, the livelihoods of scores of farmers hung in balance.

Trees at the Freedom Hill winery burned near the tasting room and smoke from the nearby fires hovered menacingly over the vines.

The winery has 18 hectares of cabernet, shiraz and pinotage grapes that are due to be harvested within weeks.

So far the owners have been relatively lucky, losing less than a hectare of merlot grapes which are no longer used for wine.

But the path of the blaze is unpredictable.

Possibility it might return
"We are very worried that it would come back," said tasting room manager Malisha Fortuin.

With blackened vegetation a stone's throw away, workers on a fruit farm were busy harvesting plums while a chopper flying above was water bombing a nearby fire.

"I'm not scared of fire. I have worked with fire a few times," said worker Lionel Plaatjies.

Back-up teams have been called in from the city of Cape Town and other provinces.

"The fire has been declared a code red meaning that we've used all of our available resources and are pulling all the resources that we can," Brink said.
– Sapa-AFP